


One Last Favor

by AnotherRoad



Category: Justified
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 17:24:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1096548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherRoad/pseuds/AnotherRoad





	One Last Favor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thenewradical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewradical/gifts).



Loretta Mccready didn't like Atlanta.

There was something about the downtown crowds, the heat, and the towering clusters of buildings that made her feel smothered. It wasn't Kentucky, with its open air and rolling hills, but that was just it...

It wasn't Kentucky.

Loretta had managed to keep her head down with her foster family until she had finished high school, but she couldn't take Kentucky anymore. Not with all of the reminders - Harlan, her father, the Bennett brothers, Mags...

Loretta looked up from her laptop and took a sip of coffee. Two years of college and one last favor from her foster father had bought her an internship at one of the largest financial firms in Georgia. She didn't much care for the late-night grunt work, but how else was she going to learn how to fold Mag's money into something she could use? Peel away the suits and ties and it was all the same old business - just with no perverts or apple pie moonshine. She'd learned how to grow and sell marijuana from the best, and now she was learning to clean her money from the best as well. 

A door closed behind her. Loretta sighed and took a sip of coffee. Fake business by day. Real business by night. Same old story. So many people worked late here that nobody would think twice about either her or her boss being here after hours. Tucked away in her cubicle, though, Loretta heard her share of hushed conversations as they passed her on their way out from late night meetings with her employer. Embezzlement, laundering, pyramid schemes...so many plans were hatched right in her hallway. She'd lean against her cube wall until she heard the elevator at the end of the hall close, take a few notes, and resume her office work with no one being the wiser.

Not tonight though. As she strained to listen to the conversation from her boss's most recent criminal rendezvous, Loretta felt her heart begin to pound in her ears. She'd heard the voices of coworkers, CEO's, and even policemen come down her hallway, but the one drawl-filled voice she never expected...never wanted to hear again, drilled its way into her ears. 

Dickie Bennett had just left her boss's office.

Loretta froze, barely daring to breathe. She heard a cell phone ring. He couldn't be more than twenty five feet away. 

"C'mon now Dewey, all you gotta do is drive through and pick up the money! It's all set up."

Fifteen.

"No no. It's tomorrow night. He's takin' on the whole Calloway crew. They put a guy on the south hill. He'll do all of them. Y'know he will. Then when he walks out..."

He was right outside of her office.

"That'll be it for the good marshal, Raylan Givens, and all that Calloway money is right there for the takin'. We just gotta grab it, pay the Georgia fella the rest of his money, and zip on out."

Raylan. Loretta mouthed his name. She listened to every step as it faded toward the elevator at the end of the hall, not daring to move. She stayed still even well after hearing the elevator chime and its pair of doors close. Twenty excruciating minutes passed before she gathered the courage to make sure the hallway was clear.

Dickie was out to kill Raylan. Nothing new, she supposed, but this was elaborate, especially for Dickie. Could he maybe even do it? Actually kill Marshal Givens?  
Dickie? No. But if he had the right kind of help, and Loretta knew her current employer had access to that kind of help, they could do it. 

She picked up her cell phone, stared at it, and set it back down.

No, it's too dangerous. she thought. If anyone were able to trace the call back to her, it could mean an unfriendly visit with one of her boss's associates, or even worse - a real visit from Dickie Bennett. It would be best just to keep her head down - keep business going.

But didn't she owe the marshal? She hadn't seen him in years, but Raylan had saved her life more than once. Hell, he had even respected Mags's wish to let her keep the money. Now she couldn't take a risk that could save his life? No. She was better than that. Besides, if Harlan was going to catch up to her all the way out here, as one last favor she could at least make doubly sure it caught up a long score with Dickie Bennett. 

She gathered her things and headed for the elevator.  
—-  
24 hours Later...

Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens walked through the crowd of police and first responders cleaning up the site of a shooter's nest that overlooked the house he had just secured. He furrowed his brow at Tim Gutterson, who adjusted the rifle on his shoulder before joining him. 

"Calloway's crew were all inside, Tim. I don't even recognize this guy," he gestured to a wounded man being restrained and loaded into an ambulance, "Didn't even know he was here til I heard y'all outside."

Tim shrugged, "No ID or information on him, but so far as I know, Raylan, he's not with the Calloways at all. Independent job."

"Here for the money? Lot's of boys to take out with just one gun." Raylan smirked, "I'd know."

Gutterson shook his head, "No Raylan. He was here for you."

The smugness vanished from Raylan's face, "Me? How'd you find out?"

"Tip. Phonecall came through to the Marshall's office. Told us where you were and where he'd be. Good timing too. Otherwise, we'd have probably been a little later than either of us would like to have been."

"Huh," Raylan took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair, pondering for a moment, "This tip say anything else?"

Tim withdrew a small notebook and flipped through it, "Says you should probably ask the man about Dickie Bennett. Didn't say why. Hung up after that though. Said something about being late for a Van Halen concert."

Raylan stared at the marshal with a hint of surprise, "Is that so?"

Tim nodded, "Yeah. Make any sense to you?"

Raylan put his hat back on and turned to head to his car. "Yep."

"And?"

Raylan grinned to himself and kept walking.


End file.
